Apple 1976-2011

Q: TUTORIAL: Disable Auto Save, Versions and bring back Save As

1. Quit the app(s) you want to configure.

 

2. Launch Terminal.

 

3. Paste the command below in the Terminal window, then replace 'name of app' with the name of whatever app you want to configure (e.g. 'textedit'), before hitting Enter:

 

defaults write -app 'name of app' ApplePersistence -bool no

 

Alternatively, you can configure all apps at once with the following command:

 

defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

 

I don't recommend doing this, though, because, for some reason, it slows down the login process considerably.

 

For TextEdit only, you also need to run another command, as a workaround for errors that prevents it from functioning correctly:

 

defaults write -app textedit AutosavingDelay -int 0

 

4. Relaunch the app(s).

 

5. Enjoy you considerably less infuriating Mac!

 

If you don't see any changes, a relogin will in most cases do the trick (if not, the app probably uses a non-standard saving mechanism).

 

Please note: Although this brings back Save As in most apps, this is sadly not the case with Preview and iWork.

 

To undo any of the above commands, run:

 

defaults delete -app 'name of app' ApplePersistence

defaults delete -g ApplePersistence

defaults delete -app textedit AutosavingDelay

 

P.S. If you want to remove data already stored by Versions, you need to delete the hidden .DocumentRevisions-V100 folder in the root directory of your disk(s).


Apple is dead to me.

Posted on Aug 1, 2012 11:14 AM

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Q: TUTORIAL: Disable Auto Save, Versions and bring back Save As

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  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jul 19, 2013 2:12 PM in response to Alex Zavatone
    Level 5 (7,409 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 2:12 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

    Alex Zavatone wrote:

     

    If it comes down to a case of making my money and getting out, then that is an option.  We used the Mac OS because it offered us something that appealled to us.  If that goes away, then it's simply no more fun to use and not productive enough to justify the aggrivation.  Last time I checked, there were other options.  It would be sad if those become better options, but I'm not going to stick with a set of platforms that become a chore to use. 

     

    That's not why we started using the Mac in the first place.

    That's your perogative, but stop annoying us with your little dislikes both here and in the 'Return Bounce' posts. As I said, many millions of others use it and their productivity has not seemed to have suffered, so perhaps it is just that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks. We are coming up for the third OSX since Snow Leopard. Each becoming more popular than the last.

     

    But as I say,

     

    Good Luck

  • by Alex Zavatone,

    Alex Zavatone Alex Zavatone Jul 19, 2013 2:45 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 2:45 PM in response to petermac87

    You just don't stop, do you?

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jul 19, 2013 2:47 PM in response to Alex Zavatone
    Level 5 (7,409 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 2:47 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

    Alex Zavatone wrote:

     

    You just don't stop, do you?

    I didn't reopen a year old thread (again).

     

    You were after a bite and you got one.

     

    Cheers

     

    Pete

  • by Alex Zavatone,

    Alex Zavatone Alex Zavatone Jul 19, 2013 3:08 PM in response to petermac87
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 3:08 PM in response to petermac87

    But you were certainly the one who had something to add about a completely unrelated thread and felt compelled to intoduce it and it's unrelated to the discussion.

     

    All I did was come acoss this thread while searching for someting on this topic, reply to the poster and you felt the need to gripe about it and pull in a completely unrelated thread that I haven't participated in in I can't tell you how long.

     

    I was not after a bite.  Don't assume you know what everyone is looking for. 

  • by petermac87,

    petermac87 petermac87 Jul 19, 2013 3:28 PM in response to Alex Zavatone
    Level 5 (7,409 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 3:28 PM in response to Alex Zavatone

    Alex Zavatone wrote:

     

    But you were certainly the one who had something to add about a completely unrelated thread and felt compelled to intoduce it and it's unrelated to the discussion.

     

    All I did was come acoss this thread while searching for someting on this topic, reply to the poster and you felt the need to gripe about it and pull in a completely unrelated thread that I haven't participated in in I can't tell you how long.

     

    I was not after a bite.  Don't assume you know what everyone is looking for. 

    You are too predictable.

     

    Pete

  • by mbp20111,

    mbp20111 mbp20111 Nov 10, 2013 6:26 PM in response to Apple 1976-2011
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 10, 2013 6:26 PM in response to Apple 1976-2011

    I have been using this command to get back Save As... in Mountain Lion and it works great.

    defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

     

     

     

    However, this doesn't seem to work anymore in Mavericks. I was wondering if there's a newer command I could try? Thanks!

  • by mbp20111,

    mbp20111 mbp20111 Nov 10, 2013 7:04 PM in response to mbp20111
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 10, 2013 7:04 PM in response to mbp20111

    UPDATE: I looked into this a bit further, and it seems that it's just the older iWork '09 apps that can't use the Save As function.

     

    All the other apps (textedit, preview, etc) are able to use Save As. So are the newer iWork apps (the ones just released). But I use the older iWork 09 apps the most. Is there anything I can do to bring the functionality back on those?

  • by baltwo,

    baltwo baltwo Nov 10, 2013 11:16 PM in response to mbp20111
    Level 9 (62,256 points)
    Nov 10, 2013 11:16 PM in response to mbp20111

    defaults write com.apple."name of iWork app" ApplePersistence -bool no

  • by mbp20111,

    mbp20111 mbp20111 Nov 11, 2013 12:01 AM in response to baltwo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 11, 2013 12:01 AM in response to baltwo

    baltwo wrote:

     

    defaults write com.apple."name of iWork app" ApplePersistence -bool no

     

     

     

    I'm afraid that didn't work. It disabled versions. After I applied it, I cannot use the cmd+shift+s to duplicate the document.

     

    But I still cannot get Save As... back.

     

    The command I tried is:

     

    defaults write com.apple.pages ApplePersistence -bool no


    I have a theory. Perhaps somehow, with there being two versions of everything, the command is being applied only to the newer iWork '13 versions, but not the iWork '09 apps? Does that make sense? That's just me guessing because I have no idea how the command works exactly.

     


  • by mbp20111,

    mbp20111 mbp20111 Nov 11, 2013 12:12 AM in response to mbp20111
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 11, 2013 12:12 AM in response to mbp20111

    Can someone explain to me what the command does:

     

    defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

     

     

    What file does it modify? What is it trying to do? Perhaps if I understand what it does, I can see why it's not working not.

  • by baltwo,

    baltwo baltwo Nov 11, 2013 1:03 PM in response to mbp20111
    Level 9 (62,256 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 1:03 PM in response to mbp20111
  • by mbp20111,

    mbp20111 mbp20111 Nov 12, 2013 3:31 AM in response to baltwo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 12, 2013 3:31 AM in response to baltwo

    I have done some more experimenting, I have found something interesting:

     

    after applying the command, iWork 09 (with nothing else installed) works as expected. versions is disabled and I get the Save As... command back.

     

    However, after I install the iWork 13 apps as well, things go wrong. The Save As... command appears in the iWork 13 apps, but disappear in the iWork 09 apps.

     

    It almost seems like iWork 13 kidnapping the Save As...  command from iWork 09.

     

     

     

    Now, can someone explain to me how the command works?

     

    defaults write -g ApplePersistence -bool no

     

    What does this do? Does it modify some .plist or something? If I understand what it does, then I think I may be able to figure out what's going on here,

  • by d00dbro,

    d00dbro d00dbro Jun 2, 2014 12:30 PM in response to Apple 1976-2011
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Jun 2, 2014 12:30 PM in response to Apple 1976-2011

    Thank you so much! I was getting trolled so many times by TextEdit saving a document I didn't want to save changes on.

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